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I said it before stop giving israel money and weapons.
26 Sep 2024 10:31 pm
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Less than a day before, administration officials had described a statement, signed by the United States and major European and Middle East allies, released Wednesday night as a major development. It was accompanied by a high-level background briefing for reporters. The statement called for a temporary halt in the escalating conflict to negotiate a more permanent cease-fire.In a sharp pushback to Netanyahu on Thursday, the Biden administration described his rejection of the temporary truce as a bait and switch.
Follow World newsFollow“A lot of care and effort was put into that statement,” including extensive conversations with senior Israeli officials, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters. “And we wouldn’t have made that statement if we didn’t have reason to believe that the conversations that we were having, with the Israelis in particular, were supportive of that goal.”The statement, he said, “wasn’t just drawn up in a vacuum. It was done after careful consultation, not only with the countries that signed on to it, but Israel itself. … And we had every reason to believe that … in the drafting of it, and in the delivery of it, that the Israelis were fully informed … and fully aware of every word in it. And we wouldn’t have done it, as I said, if we didn’t believe … that it would be received with the seriousness with which it was composed.”Asked directly if he was saying that the statement would not have been released if there had been uncertainty about Israeli’s position, Kirby said, “I didn’t state exactly those words, but I’m not going to disagree.” He added that U.S. officials were continuing conversations with Netanyahu and his team in New York, and would be listening carefully Friday morning to Netanyahu’s U.N. address.For the past year, as Israel has conducted its separate war against Hamas militants in Gaza, U.S. officials have frequently referred to hard-line statements Netanyahu has made in public as differing from their private conversations with him. Expressing frustration, they have described him as seeking to assuage certain members of his political coalition who have threatened to bring down his government if he does not comply with their demands.Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, said Thursday he had informed Netanyahu that if a temporary cease-fire with Hezbollah is agreed to, his party would not vote with the coalition, and if the cease-fire became permanent, then his party would withdraw from the government, threatening Netanyahu’s hold on power.But the rejection wasn’t confined to small, extreme elements in Israel’s governing coalition. Foreign Minister Israel Katz, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, said in a social media post: “There will be no cease-fire in the North. We will continue to fight against Hezbollah with all our strength until victory.”